Lit­tle Ones Grad­u­ate De­spite Win­ston Woes

The young chil­dren of the PAFCO Child Care Cen­tre grad­u­ated in Le­vuka last week. Like other schools in Le­vuka, the Cen­tre was shat­tered when Trop­i­cal Cy­clone Win­ston struck in Fe­bru­ary.

The fu­ture of the 70-plus stu­dents that made up the cen­tre was in doubt. But thanks to Bum­ble Bee & PAFCO staff, the cen­tre be­gan op­er­a­tions 15 weeks later. “PAFCO Child Care Cen­tre was like bro­ken glasses that could not be joined to­gether. “En­ter­ing the room and wit­ness­ing what Trop­i­cal Cy­clone Win­ston did to our soul was flooded with tears and we didn’t know where to start and how it was go­ing to end,” said school teacher, Laisa Vananalagi. In late June, the cen­tre re­sumed classes in­side a tent at the Le­vuka Pri­mary School ground. The school roll stood at 55. With the ar­rival of an­other tent, this was put to use in week 10 of the sec­ond term. Ms Vananalagi wished all the grad­u­at­ing stu­dents the best with the ad­vice: “What­ever you sow you will reap.” Edited by Jonathan Bryce

Stand­ing left: Brett Carter, op­er­a­tional man­ager of Bum­ble Bee Sea Foods, PAFCO hu­man re­sources man­ager Tavite Racumu, head teacher of Le­vuka Public Pri­mary School Sa­muela Wailevu, and Chap­lain of Le­vuka Public School Rev­erend Q Korolevu. Sit­ting are the grad­u­ates, staff and par­ents of the PAFCO Child Care Cen­tre at the prize­giv­ing cer­e­mony held at Queen Vic­to­ria Me­mo­rial Hall.